When Family Guy originally premiered back 2000, my initial feelings towards the animated show were that of extreme adoration. I was an immature high schooler who soon began spreading the phrase about that new "Simpsons-esque" cartoon which was somehow falling through the cracks. Following the show was cancelled, I was one of many thousands of people who purchased the first two DVD volumes, which ultimately cause Fox resurrecting the show.
I'd both a Peter Griffin t-shirt as well as a Stewie one, and I wore them with pride. At parties, my friends and I'd play "Drink the Beer" where when we drank our beer, we won...another beer! So when Family Guy premiered on Fox again in 2005 after that initial cancellation, I was happier then Quagmire in a Vietnamese brothel.
But ever since then, I slowly started initially to drift from Family Guy. Episode after episode, the writing started initially to suffer and the show lost more and more structure. Once a perfect blend of outrageous humor, offensive material and vulgarity, Family Guy now was more dedicated to being absurd then being funny. I grew tired of the epic battles between Peter and the Chicken or the musical numbers by the child-molesting elderly neighbor, Herbert. And I must say i learned to loath the out-of-nowhere live-action Conway Twitty performances. kickassanime (Seriously, does any Family Guy fan locate them funny? I'd like to know.)
Which brings us to 2009, where my estimation on Family Guy can best be described by that of Lois Griffin's opinion on her husband. She loves him and always may even though his stupidity will get so overbearing that she is like she's wasting her time. Sure, she may do better and sometimes wishes she did. But in the end, the good times outnumber the bad times, which results in her decision to faithfully uphold his side.
And that's precisely how I experience the recently released Family Guy: Volume Seven. A number of it's good, some of it's bad, but when it's all said and done, you'll laugh significantly more than you'll sigh despite these episodes being fully a far cry from the classic Family Guy that I fell in love with.
Of Volume Seven's thirteen episodes, not too most of them be noticeable as great television. Because of the show's structure, you can only really expect funny moments and dialogue to pop up sporadically throughout each episode. The infamous cutaway gags/flashbacks that Family Guy is so popular for will also be pretty hit-or-miss. Ones such as the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion getting pissed at Dorothy because she admitted she would definitely miss out the Scarecrow most of all right facing them are hysterical. But you then get ones such as the Shouting-Arab Gram Business that completely fall flat.
A massive perk of purchasing this DVD rather than simply watching the patient episodes on television is the profanity that gets sprinkled in all the episodes by the creators. I need to admit, it's pretty hilarious hearing each person in the cast drop an F-bomb at least one time, especially Stewie. Other special features which can be included on the DVDs are deleted scenes and commentaries by the show's creators.
A featurette entitled "Family Guy Cribz" got my hopes up that they would parody the MTV show Cribs with some of the show's hottest characters take us on a tour of their house (How funny could Quagmire's have been?). Instead, I obtained an actual documentary on Family Guy's production offices in Los Angeles and individuals that work there, which only left me wishing I worked for Family Guy. Finally, Volume Seven includes a sneak peak of Fox's new spin-off series The Cleveland Show where Stewie takes what right out of my mouth. "What the hell? He's getting his own show?"
Aside from Family Guy's slow decline in quality, I still find myself laughing aloud at these newer episodes. The characters are still enjoyable to watch and I will be partial to the show's immature nature. Family Guy: Volume Seven is not really a waste of time by any means, I just hope that by the time Volume Eight comes around, we see a Family Guy that doesn't have to spend a whole episode of Peter singing The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird" merely to squeeze a laugh out of us.
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